The Society of Hospital Medicine inducted three new Masters in Hospital Medicine (MHM) at SHM Converge 2024 in San Diego. This is considered the Society’s highest professional honor. The three inductees are Leonard S. Feldman, MD, FAAP, FACP, MHM, Tara Lagu, MD, MPH, MHM, and Jerome C. Siy, MD, MHA, MHM.
The MHM designation was first introduced in 2010 by SHM to recognize hospitalists who have made significant contributions to hospital medicine and healthcare as a whole. Nominees for the honor are SHM members, and the SHM Board of Directors carefully reviews the qualifications of each potential inductee before selecting the final members of each year’s MHM class.
Leonard S. Feldman, MD, FAAP, FACP, MHM
Dr. Feldman
Dr. Feldman has been elected a Master in Hospital Medicine in honor of his remarkable educational leadership, impressive academic portfolio, and dedication to our specialty and society.
Following medicine-pediatrics training at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C., and a year as internal medicine chief resident as a PGY5, he joined the team at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore in 2004, where Dr. Daniel Brotman mentored him. He advanced to associate professor of medicine and pediatrics while continuing as a practicing internal medicine and pediatric hospitalist. Dr. Feldman also serves as the program director for the med-peds training program and the Urban Health Internal Medicine Primary Care Track.
Dr. Feldman has been a leader in high-value care. In 2015, he partnered with his mentee, Dr. Amit Pahwa, to start the Department of Medicine High-Value Care Committee, the success of which led to an expansion of the entire Johns Hopkins health system and the creation of the High-Value Practice Alliance.
Additionally, Dr. Feldman has led in building successful, externally funded clinical training programs at Johns Hopkins that target the underserved, while serving as PI on the associated training program grants. Grants have totaled more than $10 million.
Dr. Feldman has been instrumental in supporting SHM’s mission through many volunteer leadership positions, including as president of SHM’s Maryland chapter, co-creator of the Med-Peds special interest group, a longtime member of SHM’s Education Committee, and an extraordinary contributor to SHM’s annual conference as an Annual Conference Committee member, co-chair, and course director in 2017. He has been a regular presenter, including directing the perioperative advanced learning course.
Dr. Feldman created a web-based educational platform in consultative and perioperative medicine that is now known as “Consultative and Perioperative Essentials for Hospitalists,” SHM’s flagship perioperative medicine curriculum on the SHM Learning Portal. He continues to co-edit the curriculum with Dr. Kurt Pfeifer.
Dr. Feldman founded the Things We Do For No Reason Converge presentations and the popular Journal of Hospital Medicine series by the same name. He continues as a deputy editor for the column along with Drs. Tony Breu and Elise Lu. He has also received SHM’s Excellence in Education and Teamwork in Quality Improvement Awards.
The innovations he has created and partnered with others to develop, within SHM and the field of hospital medicine, will have lasting impacts.
Tara Lagu, MD, MPH, MHM
Dr. Lagu
Dr. Lagu has been elected a Master in Hospital Medicine in recognition of her leadership, service, and innovations to advance the field of hospital medicine.
Dr. Lagu earned her medical degree and master’s in public health from Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., in 2002 and completed residency training in general internal medicine at Warren Alpert Brown Medical School in Providence, R.I. Following residency, she completed the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and became an academic hospitalist and researcher at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass.
Dr. Lagu is now a full professor in the department of medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, where she serves as director of the Northwestern University Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research.
She recently published a qualitative study showing that physicians often feel overwhelmed by the demands of practicing medicine and struggle to accommodate patients with disabilities. This study was published in Health Affairs and featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, National Public Radio’s Science Friday, and several podcasts.
Dr. Lagu is among hospital medicine’s most impactful hospitalist researchers and has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers in high-impact journals. She is also an exceptional teacher, providing mentorship to numerous students, residents, and fellows throughout her career, earning numerous awards and accolades from trainees and colleagues alike.
Dr. Lagu has a legacy of service to SHM. Notably, she was a senior deputy editor for the Journal of Hospital Medicine for five years, during which time she played an important role in helping to edit numerous personal essays from frontline hospitalists about their experiences during the pandemic. These essays had the power to help us learn, empathize, and survive the pandemic in its earliest and darkest days.
Dr. Lagu has also presented at SHM’s Academic Leadership Summit at SHM Converge and earned the Excellence in Research Award from the Society in 2019. Her inspirational leadership, willingness to push boundaries, and trailblazing research make Dr. Lagu a model for academic hospitalist leaders.
Jerome C. Siy, MD, MHA, MHM
Dr. Siy
Dr. Siy has been elected a Master in Hospital Medicine in honor of his consistent, long-standing service to patients, colleagues, SHM, and the field of hospital medicine.
Dr. Siy earned his medical degree from Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science in Rochester, Minn., and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where he also earned his Master of Healthcare Administration degree. He then joined HealthPartners in Bloomington, Minn., where he has remained since.
Dr. Siy is now the associate senior medical director of Value-Based Care, where he oversees the home and community services division, population health, payor relations, and more. He is also an adjunct assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School.
He has served in numerous impactful leadership roles at HealthPartners, including on the Boards of Directors for HealthPartners, Regions Hospital, and Hudson Hospital.
Dr. Siy has also served as hospital medicine and hospital medicine specialty services division director and department chair of hospital medicine.
Dr. Siy has been a longtime leader at SHM, beginning with co-founding the Minnesota chapter in 2012. He served as chapter president until 2015. Dr. Siy has held leadership roles in numerous SHM committees, including Practice Management, Awards, and Education.
Perhaps Dr. Siy’s most significant contribution to SHM was his leadership on the Board of Directors, including as president from 2021-2022—during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a pivotal time for the world and SHM. He helped guide the organization and navigate unchartered territory as SHM leadership and staff worked with our members to ensure our response and resources accurately reflected their evolving needs, including SHM’s first virtual annual conference.
Dr. Siy’s leadership has benefited SHM, our profession, and patient care. We are honored to induct him as a Master in Hospital Medicine.
Congratulations to SHM’s new Masters in Hospital Medicine!